Twisted and Still Spinning
by Bewilderment
Summary: James is neat, prim, and hot with the ladies. Lily doesn't really care. Gabriella is the girl that will screw them all up. With all these changes in her life, Lily is twisted up in others and can't seem to get loose. Come dream with us...
1. Hogwarts, that Dastardly School

**Twisted and Spinning**

_**Bewilderment** _

**Disclaimer:** _In no part do I own anything of J.K. Rowling's work. This is written for fun, not for money, so she needn't begrudge me any of my innocent fanfiction._

"**Hogwarts, that Dastardly School"**

* * *

Lily Evans was considered noble by some, a hero by many, and a slag by James Potter. He asked her out more than once, only to have her red-gold hair be shaken at him for his pains. Not so much a slag as choosy, a gorgeous prude, and that didn't go by the rules of James Potter.

Of course his opinion always seemed to change regarding her, if only to himself, and this confused him. He liked his women blonde and his card-game strip-blackjack, his drink shaken, not stirred. He read the comics in the morning and folded his paper twice, and he knew what type of humor to use on the ladies. Most were not up for crude potty-jokes, and he knew this. Sirius Black, for instance, had made this mistake many times, and still slipped up by the time James was silver-tongued from experience.

Lily Evans was disgusted by him, considered him slimy, and brushed past him in the hall every time she saw him. She controlled the flipping of her heart when she saw him, and the twitch of her hand. He never knew that her body was calling for his, and the effort to keep herself in control made her seem harsher and cooler than usual.

But you will discover this for yourself when the tale is done, for I knew Lily Evans like no one else. I watched her undergo trials and tribulations and handed her tissues when her tears overflowed. But she said all her troubles started at Hogwarts, that dastardly school, and that she'd always known James Potter was slightly crazy. Hell, what was that statistic that said 70 of first guesses are correct? Intuition, all of that. She should have known, she said.

I will tell you her story when she cannot. Listen closely, you of the future, for you cannot find this story any other place.

Things were uneventful at Hogwarts for Lily up until fifth year. Before that, she was happy, immature, and glowing with health. In her fifth year, after her fifteenth birthday, she blossomed into a blushing, graceful thing of smoky green eyes and golden-red hair. Her skin was white and flawless, and she and James Potter were on friendly terms, for once.

Before fifth year, not too much happened. There was the usual nervousness as to which house she'd be sorted into, but she was pleased with the house she was put in. Gryffindor, home of belles and gentlemen, and she felt she'd be happy with her kinsmen.

And she was, up until fifth year. In her fifth year, James asked her out four times, and she refused him each and every circumstance. She turned down chances of moonlit walks, gambols in Hogsmeade, and flowers that were a surprise. And all because of Gabriella.

Gabriella danced forever—lap dances in clubs, flamenca in the hallways, and tap on the dinner tables. "James Potter," she said, tilting Lily's pale chin up, "can go to the dogs."

Gabriella had fallen in love with James years before.

Lily beaded her hair and learned to dance gracefully, a doe picking her feet daintily up to avoid smashing daisies. Around the fall of fifth year, she could dance lightly and awesomely, her toes pointed and her knees not seeming so sharp.

On the day of October fifth, she was on the Quidditch field, learning a new type of step she could use to regular music. "No, no!" Gabriella, that witch, cried. "It's ra-da-da-_da_-da!"

Lily tried again to get it right, but she fell, exhausted, onto the springy turf. "Gabriella, can we take a break? I want to learn this, I really do, but I cannot concentrate right now."

"Are we going to have any kind of dance ready for the party after the next match?" Gabriella scolded.

"Look, honey!" Lily cried. "James is about to go practice flying!" This comment came out of nowhere, but Lily couldn't think of any faster way to distract Gabriella.

Gabriella couldn't resist one more dig. "He knows _he_ has to practice."

Lily remained silent as the aforementioned James flew over them, looping as he flashed a smile down at them. Gabriella looked up at him, waving and grinning, but he only had eyes for Lily, who only had eyes for her fingernails.

"Alright," sighed Lily, heaving herself off of the grass that had felt so heavenly. "Let's practice one more time. I _am_ going to get it."

Gabriella lifted one hand, twirling, over her head; "Let's begin," she said.

Lily meshed her hands together and stretched them out, hearing her knuckles crack as she emotionally prepared herself. Before she could move, she felt the wind being knocked out of her as James swooped down and picked her up, his strong arms flexing as they locked around her own. And as Lily flew past her best friend, Gabriella, she saw her face fall.

"Wait—" Gabriella started to call, almost involuntarily. She bit her lip quickly and stood awkwardly with her elbows crossed.

Meanwhile, Lily was lifted up and experienced vertigo with a vengeance. She couldn't tell if it was because of the height, or because the shock of it, or even just because James Potter was touching her. Later, she denied it, but when she told me about it, she was starry-eyed and positively awestruck; her eyes were dreamy, open wide. "Don't tell Gabriella," she whispered, her hand flicking back a hair that had come loose. "She'll be…_dev_astated." And there was a sort of pleasure in her eyes, the triumph that she had that much power over another girl like herself. She hadn't yet understood the power that James had over her.

On the field, Gabriella crossed her elbows again and twisted her feet, one around the other. On the broom, a giddy Lily let go of James and spread her arms out. There was a sudden flinch of the broom, and it must have told James something, for she was put back down on the ground directly. Gabriella cartwheeled again, and Lily pranced towards the twenty meters or so the two were apart. The brunette smiled shakily, and Lily said, "What about that step?"

* * *

The next day, James made further advances to talk to Lily, and Gabriella made further advances to keep them apart. Before James waved at Lily in the hallway, Gabriella looked for warning signs. She, an avid James-watcher, knew what signs to search for: the sudden light of a smile, his hands flattening themselves, ready for the perfect wave. Gabriella dropped her books once, almost fell against a wall twice, and three times whispered something in Lily's ear.

Lily came to me, for she, clever girl, had noticed this. For all her cunning, Gabriella wasn't as subtle as she might have been. When I saw Lily, the beginnings of sadness were starting to darken her eyes. I knew her so well that I could predict in how long she'd be crying. This time, many moments didn't pass before it all came out. "I know she likes James! I know it, I know it!" she shrieked, all her indignant thoughts pouring out. "But that doesn't mean she has to try and, and, con_nive_ me! I mean, I've always respected this! This, this, piece of stupidity on her part. If he likes me, so be it. How can she not have considered that I may like him, too?"

Five, four, three, two—"But I want to be loved!" Lily sobbed, throwing her face down on the pillow. "How come she can't see that?"

I knew that Gabriella wouldn't sacrifice James for her best friend. Stubborn, stubborn Gabriella knew that any other guy would be absorbed in Lily and Lily's personality. And as long as she felt James was her territory, Gabriella would make sure Lily wasn't going to get so much as the time of day from James.

But dear Lily, always caught up in her own problems, couldn't see this. Of _course_ Gabriella was her friend, of _course_ Gabriella would do anything to help her.

We all saw it coming, from me to Sirius, from Sirius to his girlfriend, Sherry. I think even the teachers saw this poisonous relationship that nothing but harm could come from. And I would always choke on this knowledge that I couldn't share.

If only Lily knew this—that, in the end, Gabriella would be her ruin.

* * *


	2. Shades of Darkness

**Twisted and Still Spinning**  
**Bewilderment…so aptly named**

**Disclaimer:** I own no part of anything of J.K. Rowling's, Warner Brothers, etc. No profit is being made from this story written just for fun.

"_Shades of Darkness"_

* * *

Fifteen minutes to go. Lily stared at the clock, impatient, and waited for class to be dismissed. The professor was going on and on about Whatsit charms—and Lily normally would have found this fascinating—and was about to dive into the science of wrist flicks. Please, Lily thought, watching the seconds tick by.

"Pssst," came a whisper from down the row. "Lily, psssst!" The voice was that Gabriella. When she'd finally gotten her attention, she said, "Lily, what's up? You _love_ Charms and now you don't care."

"Well—" Lily began, but the professor glared at her. Lily picked up her quill and began to write her words out. Gabriella waited impatiently, fidgeting, and making a general fuss until she was almost knocked over by a nudge from a more conscientious student. Looking up, Gabriella's eyes searched for the note that was about to come her way. When it did, she almost tore the note open in haste, neglecting to see that Lily was now paying strict attention to the professor; or at least, she was looking as if she was.

_Gabbie_, the note began as Gabriella's pupils devoured the words. _Gabbie, I know you don't know what's up with me, but these past few days have been really confusing. You know James Potter? He is such a worthless prat sometimes, but he is being really nice to me and I like it. I thought that I was in love with Sirius, but this is totally different. James doesn't respect women in general so much, but do you think I can change him?_

Gabriella put the note down in shock. The words "oh my gosh" formed a chain and linked its way around her mind, an endless chanting of words that portrayed her alarm and indignation. She picked up the quill hurriedly, and wrote a response that was sloppy and nearly illegible to anyone but Lily's eyes.

_Um, well, James Potter is okay, I guess,_ whispered her words as the ink tripped over itself. _They say how you can't change a man, you know, the way that you can't change anything solid, like the rocks or time. He is good-looking, but don't fall for his looks, dear Lily. Tall, dark, and handsome are all very well in those Muggle romance novels you read, but they don't work in the real world. The brooding and sulky man is apt to screw you over._

Lily read this with a sinking heart. Of course Gabriella was right. Still she persisted, however. _You always seemed to find that quite sexy_.

Gabriella faltered for a response, flipping her hair nervously behind her ear. _It was, before he became uncontrollable and wild. He's gone downhill; there's no down from here._

Grains of frustration gathered around Lily's movements. _It was just yesterday you said he was hot._

Gabriella coughed. This was getting tricky. _He's all very well to ogle, for he's got sex appeal and you know it, but really. He's ridiculously immature and I believe he's had trouble with the law._

Lily's mouth watered. Incorrigible, eh? Wicked. _I guess you're right,_ she penned.

_I'm glad you see sense_, replied Gabriella.

The bell rang and Lily sprang from her seat as if she'd been lit on fire. "Wait, Lily!" cried Gabriella, but Lily was on a mission and couldn't be stopped.

* * *

When she came into Divination late, Gabriella didn't know what to expect. Lily always tried to be punctual; it was part of what made her who she was. The punctuality was built into her just like her naïveté.

Even the professor looked a little shocked to see Lily Evans late. But Lily sat down right away and took out her textbook. "What page?" she whispered to Gabriella, and Gabriella was too dumbfounded to do anything but respond.

"Ahem!" the professor—Velaquin—cleared her throat. "Any questions?" Her eyes stared down Gabriella's, who shut her mouth and gulped.

At the silence Velaquin said, "I thought not. Very well, Lily! Let us see what you see in _my_ future." With a dramatic pause, Velaquin threw her palm towards Lily, who grasped it and gazed at the lines confusedly.

"I-I see that you were in love with…with a black-haired man," Lily stammered. "Um, um, you will be broken-hearted at the loss of what appears to be, um, a close one. Beware changes."

"No!" Velaquin boomed. "You are confusing me with yourself!"

"R-right." Lily said nervously, her hands shaking slightly. "Well, for you—you enjoy the freedom of flight and you have had a plague of nightmares that will be ending soon."

"Very well," declared Professor Velaquin. "I, too, have foreseen the end of these nightmares."

"Miss Gardiner! And when will the pain of over-excitement disappear—" she inhaled impressively "—from my nightmares?"

"You never had it in the first place." Though it sounded like a statement, Gabriella was really questioning; she had little Divination talents.

"Quite right. Now, we will start the impressive task of reading our own palms. While this may be shocking to you, it is an important trait for _any_ seer-to-be."

Lily told me that her palm was a net of lines. "I'm a very emotional person," she'd stated, gazing into the depths of her right hand. But that Divination class was a tricky one for Lily, for Gabriella was taking over her mindset.

"You will fall in love with a bee-yoo-tiful stranger!" warbled Gabriella, mimicking Professor Velaquin as she studied Lily's palm. "But he will not have black hair."

And suddenly Gabriella was filling in something in her book, and Lily was left alone with her very confusing prophecies.

* * *

When Lily walked into the Great Hall, she was expecting to see what she usually saw: the odd food fight, but generally happy, eating people. But she opened the door and was greeted with silence. Utter and complete silence. 

Lily walked quickly across the space to her side of the Gryffindor table, her heels clacking against the floor much too loudly. "Um, Gabriella?" she asked. "What is this about?"

"What about?" Gabriella looked up from her notebook; there was a Charms' quiz the next day, but Gabriella got the best studying done while she was eating.

"This," Lily whispered. The silence grew more and more oppressive.

"Oh. It must be something James is up to, you know."

Lily looked at some of the others. Some of them looked like they were trying to talk, but couldn't. Others had their eyes open wider than usual; Lily was puzzled.

Lily spooned some mashed potatoes onto her plate and started picking at them uneasily. Gabriella bent her head down again over her book, trying to impress the facts into her mind. But suddenly the silence was shattered and falling to the ground in pieces, crashing on the floor. The one sound that had cracked the silence was the laugh of a boy in the same year as Lily, from the Gryffindor table. The laugh was chilling, and goosebumps rippled Lily's arms as a chill raced up and down her spine. She shivered; it was eerie.

Looking over, she saw the small, pointy-nosed boy just laughing, as if he'd learned some secret that made everything crazy. "Peter," Lily whispered. "Peter Pettigrew."

The professors sat at the tables where they usually did, unconcernedly eating away. Dumbledore, Lily was frightened to note, was gone.

Next to her, Gabriella's shoulders were shaking, and at first Lily thought that the girl was feeling the same trepidation as she. One look at her face showed a silent giggle that racked the Gabriella's body. And the back of Lily's neck began to prickle.

"It was so _weird_," Lily told me. "As if…as if they were con_nec_ted in some way!" She'd flopped backwards onto the couch. "I don't know what to do. I don't think anyone else was even _able_ to speak."

In the Great Hall, Lily blinked and missed what happened. She missed the sight of a pillar tearing through the ceiling, sending glass shards and bits of clouds from the enchanted sky everywhere. Lightning flashed—"a combination of the two different magics touching, I think," Lily said—and someone shrieked. The floor twitched, and dishes of food crashed to the floor in one drawn-out motion where everything seemed to be moving slowly.

The whole school watched as one entranced, and tiles began to split beneath their feet. The doors crashed against the stone wall as the doors were flung open, and a blue-clad figure leaped into the room. "_Solidarify_!" yelled the man, Dumbledore, and the tiles stopped splitting and the pillar was stopped from moving down into the kitchens. It looked almost like it was holding up the ceiling.

Dumbledore could fix this; of course he could. Lily twiddled with a piece of her red hair. "Prefects!" he bellowed so that his voice echoed around the silent room. "Please lead your those in your house to your common room! Do not go into the dormitories; please stay in the common room!"

Lily stood up, and she saw her fellow Gryffindor prefect—Remus—stand up as well. "Okay?" Dumbledore's voice rang across the room.

Remus looked as if he was trying to speak but couldn't. The other prefects seemed in a similar condition.

"Professor!" said Lily. He didn't hear, so she had to raise her voice. "_Professor_!" Dumbledore's head turned sharply to face her. "None of them can speak!"

Dumbledore simply waved his wand-bearing arm. "Very well."

The room erupted in words that were flung back at the speakers in harshness and relief. "Go!" yelled Dumbledore one last time, with an accompanying hand-gesture.

* * *

Back up at the common room, Lily and Remus sat on a couch, breathing slightly hard with all the climbing and re-climbing they'd had to do to keep everyone in check. "This is safety, guys!" Lily had called down the corridor, making sure everyone heard. Remus brought up the back, looking official, and making sure no one else tried to escape suddenly. They both looked exhausted, which was probably the reason that James hopped onto the couch, jarring it so they both looked up wearily. 

"Hey guys," he said, altogether too brightly for the moods Remus and Lily were in. "How goes the prefect business?"

Remus and Lily both glared at him, but he pushed on, dauntless. "I guess I'm glad I threw that refreshing stink bomb in McGonagall's office last year to remember me by."

"It wasn't refreshing," reminded Remus, smiling despite himself.

"Maybe not for you," said James. "But it sure refreshed McGonagall's memory. That's why _I'm_ not a prefect."

"Well lucky you," groaned Remus.

"Hey Lily." James tweaked a strand of Lily's red-gold hair. "How are you?"

"Decent," replied Lily. She didn't really care, and it showed in her voice.

"Where's Gabriella? I thought you two were attached at the hip."

Lily sighed. "I guess not."

James twisted his head to look about the common room. "Oh she's in here somewhe—" He was cut off by the sound of Gabriella's voice saying "hi!"

Lily put her head in her hands. "Hi, Gabbie," she said.

"Hey James." Gabriella twitched her eyebrows. "What do you think that big…display was in the Great Hall?"

"I don't know," James said, his brow furrowing. "I thought that the protections on Hogwarts were pretty strong."

"They're about to become a lot stronger," Remus stated. "Something like this won't happen again when Dumbledore's on the job."

Silence laced the air around the group, and gradually Lily and Remus dozed off. James was preoccupied, watching Lily sleep, and Gabriella was snuggled in the couch, dozing. At midnight, McGonagall entered the room; her bold entrance and the slamming of the portrait as it shut woke many of the sleeping students.

"You may go back to your dorms now," she declared to the fuzzy-minded Gryffindors, who nodded and tried to stand up. "We will explain what happened at breakfast tomorrow. The danger has passed. Please sleep."

* * *

Gabriella's teeth were small, like her fingernails, and she wore rings when Lily thought she shouldn't; they called attention to her stubby fingers. She woke Lily up the next day with her bracelets jangling against her rings (her bracelets were bangles and too large for her wrists) as she shook Lily gently. "Wake up, Lily," she whispered. 

Lily's big green eyes slowly started to open, but she shut them tightly as the sunlight hit her eyes. "What time is it?" she mumbled, scratching her head.

"Time for breakfast," Gabriella said.

Lily turned over. "No it's not."

"Come on," Gabriella urged. "You'll get to know what happened last night."

"Right!" Lily sat up, blinking unsteadily and looking about her, bleary-eyed.

Gabriella helped Lily out of bed, and Lily brushed her teeth and generally made herself ready for the day. After she had slipped on a pair of shoes, she nodded to Gabriella and the two strode down to the Great Hall.

On the way, Lily noticed something strange with the set of wooden steps they were walking down. It wasn't as if she was trying to descend horizontally down the stairs; no, it was as if each plank was lower than she expected it to be. With each step, Lily had to grasp the handrail in order to not fall down. Gabriella, however, was having no problem.

"Lily," she called over her shoulder; being able to walk freely, she was farther ahead. "Come on, will you?"

"Yeah," replied Lily as she took yet another careful step. "Aren't you having some trouble too?"

"Trouble with what, your mind? Now come on."

So Lily, unhappy at being so rudely dismissed, followed in silence—but slowly. Once they reached the Great Hall, however—the stairs being bizarrely aligned for the marble staircase as well—Lily knew it wasn't just her mind acting up. For the heavy wooden doors that were normally so secure banged oddly against the white marble floor. It was off-balance, somehow, but that didn't make sense.

When she walked in, James ran up to her. Later, Lily would say to me how odd it was that James made a point of coming to talk to her. Though then she didn't think of it. "Did you feel it?" he asked, looking into Lily's eyes.

"Feel what? Again with this nonsense?" Gabriella blew on her nails, looking bored.

"No, Lily, did _you_?" James's eyes were intense, and Lily thought she could melt inside of them, swirling and turning and flipping.

"Yes." It was sharp, precise, and there was a moment between the two that Gabriella did not like.

"What _are_ you two talking about? There's nothing wrong with anything in this school!" Gabriella broke the moment abruptly, and James turned away, annoyed.

"Lily, can I talk you for a moment? Alone?"

Lily nodded, and that was the last time Gabriella saw her as the exact same Lily she had known forever. James led her out of the Great Hall by the hand and to the right anddown some stairs (slowly, carefully),where they entered a little room. Lily thought for a second that James would lean forward and kiss her at one point, but she remembered Gabriella's "advice" and drew back, distancing herself from James. Their hands still attached them, however, and there was some awkwardness. He shook his head just a bit, disillusioning himself, and they walked up to a painting. I would have known the painting instantly, but Lily gazed at it interestedly and waited for James to explain. Instead, he tickled a pear that was in the fruit bowl in the painting. It squirmed—Lily's eyes widened—it snorted, and it turned into a handle. James grasped this and turned, but just before he opened it, he said, "I don't think that this will explain anything, but…if you felt it, too…"

Lily was mute, so she just squeezed his hand twice. He opened the portrait, pulling with his free hand, and stepped into the kitchens.

She'd never entered the realm of the house elves before, and was slightly shocked at this giant, underground Hogwarts of which she'd never known. House elves bustled about; she'd seen one before, so she knew how to identify one. "The place was swarming with them," she would later whisper confidentially to me, nudging me when she mentioned it.

And indeed they were. Except when Lily was there, it was different from any other time I—or any of the other people who frequented the kitchens—had ever seen it. Towards the middle of the kitchen on the ceiling, the rafters and the wood paneling that covered the ceiling was splintered. It was in roughly a square shape, and it looked no bigger than a house elf.

The house elves were not merely doing their usual bustling: they were scurrying about madly, and there was many a shrill squeak of panic in the air. Pots that had hung from bars well on the floor, tripping many a kitchen-worker, and the metal pans were slowly slipping toward one end, where the hearths were. The flames in the fireplaces were huge, fed by the debris that had slid into them. The fear-driven elves were not doing anything to help the situation, save for one brave creature that was valiantly (and vainly) trying to douse the fires. His comrades were not helping him at all with their senseless dashing.

Cooking ingredients were spilled everywhere, and, on their way to help the one brave house elf, Lily and James stepped into flour. It rose in clouds, making it hard for them to see the eggs that littered their path. They filled and handed buckets of water to the firefighting elf until the blazes were distinguished.

"Listen," James said, and his voice was deep and serious. ("He was so capable!" Lily told me.) "You all need to get out of the castle. There's a—"

"Hideout in the big oak tree through the tunnel behind the fireplace? Yeah, that's where we go for meetings and stuff," squeaked the elf, finishing James' sentence.

"…Right," replied James, slightly taken aback. Regaining his composure, he added, "But you have to get out of the castle, okay? And soon."

"Why?" asked Lily. It surprised James a little bit that Lily was the one to ask this and not the house elf, but he shut himself up and tried to formulate a reply.

"The castle's sinking."

The house elf looked appalled, and tried to get order in the kitchens. Knowing that he'd never capture all their attention, James commanded, "Cover your ears," to the house elf and Lily, and raised his wand-wielding arm straight into the air. "_Radifito_!" he shouted, and a bang issued from his wand.

There was sudden silence in the kitchens, and James took advantage of it. "Follow Gonlith! If you don't, you could die!" In a quieter voice, he said, "That _is_ your name, right?"

The house elf nodded, and commands began issuing out of the small elf's mouth. A stream of those that worked in the kitchen began a mad rush over to him. James and Lily fought the tide and got out of there.

Standing back in the small room, Lily put a hand over her heart; it was banging. The castle was sinking? How?

The two walked back to the Great Hall, each wrapped in thought. Right before James was about to open the door, they heard a scream. On running in, they found it was Gabriella, who was laughing. Lily had to summon all her self-control to keep from going hysterical. As it was, her flesh began to crawl.

It was crazy.

**

* * *

****A/N:** I am so sorry that this is so late. The story seemed to have taken a twist, but answers will be given in next chapter, which will be coming in hopefully a week. I can't stick to deadlines very well, but I am going to write my socks off, as they say. Please review on your way out! And I'd like a moment for those who reviewed Chapter one. 

So, an extra thanks to: **Nattatude**,** Prince and the Purple Rain**, **Tiger17Lily**,** Liisa, Queen of Serpents**, and** Belladonna**. Thanks! Your support is awesome. And I'm afraid that this chapter is not up to the first chapter's level, but it will get much, much better. I have awesome plans for next chapter, in which there will be less action, more romance, and explanations.

**Bewilderment…so aptly named**

* * *


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